James Lawless
Kildare North · Fianna Fáil · Ireland
“I am always open to feedback. The academics and authors of that report are entitled to their views, as are others. I just do not share all of their conclusions. As the Deputy said, the consultant spending was before my time. A lot of it was before the Department even existed.”
“More broadly, and this is something I think there is great potential to do more on, we are also promoting modern methods of construction, MMC, so we can embrace 2D or 3D models where they are either partially assembled off site and then brought to the location or almost fully assembled and the finished kit is brought into place.”
“In the energy space, that includes a commitment of €10 billion to enhance the grid capacity, because we need to be able to transit the energy as well as generate it, the workforce and the talent to do that - everything from retrofitting to green energy technicians and renewable energy engineers.”
“The capital funding envelop available to me is the mechanism through which I fund these projects, which is significant with €4.55 billion allocated across my Department for capital projects. SETU is the relevant institute in the south east, and it has multiple campuses, including a presence in the Xcelerate Centre at St.”
“I will recap on some of the measures I have introduced already because it is important to put them on the record again. In the previous budget, I was pleased to introduce the first ever permeant fee cut for students since free fees were introduced almost 30 years ago with a €500 permanent reduction.”
“Exactly. That is why we have a record €4.5 billion commitment across the sector. Regarding student facilities, there is the likes of the bundle 2 PPP programme which enhances student facilities on university campuses across the country.”
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“This is a difficult issue, and it is one that I have engaged with the students unions on. I have also spoken to my officials about it on a number of occasions. If students are living with their parents, there is a working assumption in the system that they are being supported by their parents to some extent at least. Perhaps that support is not through direct funds. Rather, it comes in the form of accommodation, meals and so on. These are the supports that we would normally expect within a family environment. How can we fairly and reasonably, with a view to prudence with taxpayer's money, correctly identify the student who may be still living in the family home and still having meals at the family table but who is not dependent on his or her parents or is estranged from them?”
“They cannot really get their grant until they provide the documentation and I would not expect the system to work any other way, frankly. What we can do is provide guidance. We have online wizards and I intend to continue to improve and streamline that process and provide information earlier. As I mentioned, we ran advertisement campaigns last year in the various media to make sure students knew what they had to do and knew how to get the grant. The Deputy mentioned that some students miss out because of income. The income levels are now at €120,000. As a result, the children of Members of this House can now avail of SUSI grants. That was not the case historically. We have gone right into the squeezed middle and beyond to a situation where 80% of households are now eligible for some kind of SUSI grant. That is historic.”
“I understand the issue the Deputy raises about mature students and returning emigrants. Deputy Roche has tabled a question on that matter to which I will respond to in more detail later. In terms of documentation, that is a difficult issue. I am sure the Deputy is not suggesting that we should give grants out without any application process or robust checks. It is taxpayer's money that we are talking about. The last question I answered was about the MySUSI project which went over budget and I am sure we would all agree that we need to get value for money and be prudent and robust when it comes to taxpayer's money. Obviously, certain documentation is required. If students are not providing it, that is a Catch-22 situation.”
“Another reason is if an applicant does not progress. If students get to a certain point and drop out of the course, fail exams or do not progress for various reasons, they obviously cannot get grants. In addition, grants are not awarded if the course selected is not eligible. There are various courses, some of which are outside the system and would not be eligible. Another reason for refusal is if students have been studying for beyond the maximum period. Students who have been studying for a number of years and have exceeded their allowable term will not be awarded SUSI grants. Likewise, those who are in receipt of scholarships or bursaries from somewhere else will not be awarded grants.”
“SUSI operates an appeals process. It continues to refine its processes. I have asked it to do that. We ran advertisement campaigns last summer for the first time. I initiated that because some students were not aware of their eligibility for the grant. The income thresholds are now very high. They are up to €120,000 for certain grants, which was unheard of previously. Some families on middle incomes may not have been aware that they were eligible for grants. As a result, we ran advertising campaigns to make sure that they found out. In terms of the reasons students may not succeed in getting grants, sometimes they are in receipt of other State grants. For example, if a student is receiving the back to education allowance from the Department of Social Protection, he or she cannot be paid on the double.”
“The vast majority of students who apply actually succeed and are awarded grants. In the context of the 20% who do not get grants, 3% to 4% of those students pull their applications themselves. For whatever reason, they withdraw their applications and leave college. That is one issue. There are a number of other reasons that I will get into when I make my supplementary reply.”
“Nobody should be deterred from going to college because of the cost involved. If people feel deterred, I very much want to hear about it in order to figure out why and to get into the permutations of each individual case such that I can fix any loopholes or anomalies in the system. The student grant scheme, with which the Deputy is very familiar, provides assistance to students attending courses. A part-time fee scheme was introduced last year in respect of a number of undergraduate courses. This provides fees support to eligible part-time students for the first time. Previously, part-time students were outside of the system. Just under 80% of applicants are successful every year. The Deputy's question is about those who are not successful, but it is worth pointing out that around 79% of applicants are successful.”
“Over €351 million has been allocated for students supports and related activities this year. In addition, it is estimated that the free fees initiative costs for the current academic year will be in the order of €450 million. That is just shy of €1 billion in student supports in the current year alone. When we are engaged in budget planning and negotiations, student supports are the primary item on the agenda and take up the lion's share of available moneys. Significant moneys and effort are being put into supporting students across a very wide range of needs and areas. Taken together, the allocation figures I have just given reflect the Government’s continued commitment to ensuring student access. Access is the fundamental premise here. We want to create maximum opportunity for people and that means access.”
“That would be good practice in any software system, as would mapping the processes, the ins and outs, the workflows and the toll gates within it. That basic process mapping is important. Improvements to reporting structures will catch these things early or earlier than was the case previously. Project management capability is so important in this, as does ensuring that somebody has an eye on things and that there are reporting structures, toll gates, Gantt charts and all of the things we would expect. That is all ongoing and under way within the new system. I have asked my officials for a detailed report because I am not satisfied with this. It happened before my watch, but, at the same time, it is not good enough. I have also asked for a detailed investigation.”
“In respect of the cost overrun on the project, the figures that I have available to me tell me that the cost of the project was approximately €3.8 million between 2015 and March 2022. That figure emerged at the Committee of Public Accounts recently. The project included internal staffing costs, external providers, coding and software that were built up and engineering work that was carried out. Some of that was carried forward, but much of it was not. Approximately two thirds of it had to be abandoned but around one third of the work product was carried through into the new phase. Some of the process improvements include things like better business requirements. Before one starts to write a line of code, one should know exactly what one wants it to do.”
“For example, the new project uses a cloud-based architecture which means it sits on the web as opposed to a single server. That is meant to have better distribution and fewer failover issues. There are a number of recommendations that range across procurement, business planning and IT robustness. There are ten recommendations and they are all being implemented. The new project is up and running and adhering to those recommendations.”
“I agree with the Deputy. Following the notice of termination in 2021, the City of Dublin ETB commissioned KPMG accountants to draft a report focusing on lessons learned arising from the project and what had gone wrong, which included looking at supplier issues, the delays and all the factors that combined to render the project unsuitable. A number of recommendations came out of that. I will not go into them all because there are almost a dozen of them but I can share them with the Deputy afterwards. I think they are on the public record already. They include things such as having a clear business vision, the importance of getting the requirements right at the outset, having a layered approach and having a front-loaded design stage front and centre.”
“In this context, the City of Dublin ETB has a new IT project up and running since then, which is progressing. I will come back to that in a moment.”
“In this case - it was the previous Minister not myself - credit is due that the rug was pulled and the decision was taken that enough was enough and that the project was out of order. Of course, that was done in line with the public spending code and legal advice following consultation by City of Dublin ETB with departmental officials. An independent report was then commissioned which looked at why the problems occurred and it made multiple recommendations for any future project. I might get into those recommendations in my supplementary reply. Notwithstanding the cancellation of this project, the need for a robust digital system for SUSI is as strong as ever. We need to deliver a resilient, efficient and modern service for over 100,000 students and their families who depend on the scheme.”
“In any event, where projects are funded by public money, it is imperative, as the Deputy suggested, and I expect he shares this view, that the reasons for the issues are fully understood and specific actions are taken to prevent any recurrence. In the case of the SUSI project, a decision was taken in 2021 to terminate the contracts on the basis that it was not on track to deliver the expected benefits. Effectively, it was pulled up. It was realised in 2021 that it was not going to deliver the benefits expected. It was not on track or meeting the cost targets, etc., and the project was pulled and halted. I welcome that because sometimes, we see projects running overboard and over budget and no one shouts, “Stop”.”
“The City of Dublin Education and Training Board, ETB, made reference in its annual accounts to a legacy IT project for SUSI that started in 2015 – before either of us were in this House - but experienced a number of problems and delays. Ultimately, it did not result in the successful delivery of a completed system. Although unacceptable, IT projects, unfortunately, can encounter difficulties both in the public and private sectors. It is often the case, having worked in IT many years ago, that IT projects fail. Sometimes, they can be rebuilt or remodelled and other times they are thrown away. Sometimes they are consolidated into a new system.”
“To take a typical three-bed, semi-detached house in one of the university towns as an example, of which there are many in Maynooth in my constituency as well as all around the country, how can it become a student house if four people are living there, two of whom are students and the other two are working? What happens if there are three people in a house and one of them is doing a course at night? Similarly, I refer to houses in which there are a couple of student doctors or teachers on their first year of placement. Are they student houses or not? I will be publishing my strategy in the coming weeks. I would have liked to have published it by now but it is complex with regard to the rules. I have implemented a number of the measures within it already, such as the increase in grants that I spoke about to help with affordability.”
“Students living in the private residential sector have the same rules as anyone else living in that sector. This is something I have looked at and discussed with the Minister, Deputy Browne. I have a limited remit because the Minister for housing and the Department of housing have full control over the rental rules and landlord and tenant legislation. I make submissions and I have engagement with them, as I successfully did in the case of purpose-built student accommodation, PBSA. With regard to the private residential sector, there are challenges in trying to come up with student-specific rules for houses in which students might be living.”
“We were all students once and we know that the nature of student accommodation is that students typically leave every summer. It would, therefore, have been unfair and unduly adverse on those students to have those same rules. I have managed to negotiate with the Minister, Deputy Browne, and ensure they do not have those same rules. In fact, they have a three-year protection window. The reset will be allowed on the student property in three-year cycles rather than when the tenancy ends. That is a significant achievement. I talked to AMLÉ and other student groups about it in advance. I hope the Deputy will welcome it.”
“I do not know whether the Deputy listened to my answer but that is exactly what I just talked about. I know she has probably prepared a script but I will reiterate and repeat what I said a minute ago. Working with my colleague, the Minister, Deputy Browne, I have secured protections for students in purpose-built student accommodation to ensure they do not have that annual rent reset every year. I wish to be crystal clear for the benefit of the House and everyone listening: I have secured a three-year protection window for students in order that they will not be facing rent resets until 2029 at the earliest, that is, three years from now. The original situation that was put forward in the rental Bill - I appreciate it applies to the wider residential rental market - talked about rents being reset when a tenant left.”
“This was one of the reasons why I increased all the non-adjacent maintenance grants in the budget, thereby assisting 30,000 students and bringing the total allocation for the non-adjacent student grant to €146.5 million. There are also things like rent-a-room relief, the student assistance fund and significant other funding I have put in place for students in order to help them to meet their accommodation needs.”
“For student accommodation, we have predicated it on the property, which means that regardless of how many students come and go - and I expect that there will be a group of students coming in each year and that they will be replaced by another set of students the following year - they will not be facing annual resets. There will be a three-year moratorium for all those students in the purpose-built student accommodation sector. That is important, and I thank the Minister for housing for taking my submissions on board. We had detailed engagements on this matter and, as a result, that protection will be built in. As well as rent protections, there are significant supports in terms of affordability.”
“His Department sets the rules and implements the legislation relating to rent, rent resets and so forth. I have worked closely with the Minister to ensure that the legislation relating to the new rent pressure zones, RPZs, which was published on Tuesday, having been approved by the Cabinet, contains a provision to protect students by means of a three-year moratorium on rent resets within purpose-built student accommodation. As a result, we will avoid the scenario that was feared by many, including me, of an annual reset as students left their accommodation each summer. It would have been unfair to have such students facing rent resets. The legislation was predicated on the end of a tenancy.”
“I intend to publish the national student accommodation strategy in the coming weeks. The strategy will support access to suitable housing for full-time students in publicly funded higher education institutions and aims to deliver additional student beds to meet projected demand out to 2035, without the need to have additional recourse to the private rental market. The aim behind the student accommodation strategy is to address the student accommodation requirements relating to purpose-built student accommodation without imposing additional pressures - the idea is to relieve such pressures - on the wider private residential sector. The provisions relating to tenancy legislation fall under the remit of my colleague the Minister for housing, Deputy Browne.”
“The issue of assessment for SUSI is a complex one in regard to the scenarios the Deputy described - a mature student over 23 years of age or an emigrant returning home. Perhaps it needs some investigation and revisiting. We are preparing budget 2027 at the moment. That work is under way. It will be guided by fairness and getting the most help to the most people. I will take on board the Deputy's comments and feed them into the discussion. If he wants to send me a note afterwards, I would be happy to take it and have a look at any examples the Deputy might want to highlight.”
“I understand this is an historical issue. As far as I am aware, there was a write-down on the project in 2021. Value for taxpayers' money is paramount. The project should deliver. As the Deputy has said, the project is ongoing. It is an important and fundamental system but it must be delivered efficiently in a cost-effective manner. I have asked for a full inquiry and will update the Deputy and the House as that goes on.”
“The core mission of the fund remains intact, and these measures will strengthen, not weaken, and accelerate our ability and capacity to meet Ireland's skills needs, present and future. The current arrangements strike the right balance between transparency and flexibility. These amendments would create delays, reduce responsiveness and undermine the fund's ability to meet those vital skills needs. For those reasons, it is proposed not to accept the amendment.”
“The information is already available to all Members through established processes, those being, the different engagements I mentioned above, including written or oral engagements across committees and Houses, publication in the various different budget books and all the many ways it is already shared with Members and, indeed, the wider public and stakeholders. As I stated on Second Stage last week, this Bill provides that payments under section 7(2B) can only be made for the purposes specified in sections 7(2)(a) to (c) of the NTF Act. Therefore, any funding provided under section 7(2B) cannot impede or frustrate funding for the achievement of the purposes of the Act. The amendments the Bill will make are about using surplus funding strategically to enhance capacity without undermining the delivery of training and skills programmes.”
“It would create duplication and could delay allocation letters, where we allocate funds to different bodies that require them for things like course provision and learner engagement and to employers who depend on timely training intervention. It is necessary that we can move quickly at times to ensure the moneys are spent in the right way for the right fashion for all the reasons I set out in the parent Act, which remains unchanged in this amendment Bill. We are in a process across the Government where we are trying to fast-track delivery rather than decelerate it. Adding more layers of bureaucracy and complications would have the unintended consequence of slowing down the very goals we wish to achieve through this Bill. For all these reasons, it is not proposed to set up a system where we lay the NTF scheme separately before the Houses.”
“I also regularly appear before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science to provide updates on expenditure from both my Department's Vote and the NTF. These arrangements ensure transparency and accountability. Requiring NTF schemes for section 7(2B) to be laid separately before the Houses would be an unnecessary complication. It is fair to say I appear before this House regularly, or more than from time to time, to account for my Department and activities. While I appreciate the intention of what is proposed, it would have the unintended consequence of making the fund entirely unworkable.”
“Estimated expenditure for the following year, including in respect of each scheme under the NTF, is published in the budget book on budget day and in the Revised Estimates Volume for public services, where NTF expenditure is clearly listed as an appendix. In the budget debate on the day of the budget or on subsequent days, I outline to the Dáil my Department's allocation under the budget, including the allocation for the NTF. I also deliver a speech to the Dáil following the budget outlining my Department's allocation from the budget, which includes the NTF allocation. The Act has a double lock already built in in that I must approve expenditure with the consent of the Minister for public expenditure.”
“The second part of the amendment seeks to provide that the Minister shall lay before the Houses of the Oireachtas details of any payments proposed to be made under section 7(2B) in the following 12 months and outline how the making of such payments will impact on the funding available for schemes under the purposes of the Act so that payments made under section 7(2B) will not impede or frustrate funding for the achievement of the purposes of the Act. The budgetary and Estimates process already sees the provision of the full details on the funding proposed under the NTF before the start of each financial year.”
“It would stymie me in meeting representatives as much as I would like. The phrase “from time to time”, as currently used, more accurately reflects the ongoing engagement that occurs, and for this reason I do not propose to accept this amendment. Were I to do so, it would result in a backward step and an unnecessary fetter on the discretion of the Minister to engage with relevant stakeholders when they wish and as frequently as I do. This also applies to the unions. Through the Labour Employer Economic Forum, I meet trade unions regularly, and much more than once per year.”
“The regional skills forums, funded by the NTF, enable direct dialogue between employers and education and training providers, ensuring local needs are met quickly and effectively as they arise. I regularly meet officials from IBEC and ISME, the employer representative bodies, to discuss general issues and the NTF. I have attended their seminars and conferences and meet their executive teams. I invite them to my Department and engage with them on a range of events concerning this subject matter. The engagement between me, my Department and representatives of employers and employees happens far more frequently than on an annual basis. In fact, if we were to update the legislation to specify on an annual basis, it would limit my engagement rather than increase it. The latter is the intention.”
“One of its key outputs is an annual statement of strategic advice, which I submit to the Government and that I understand is usually published subsequently. I am also progressing plans to establish a national skills observatory, an important new mechanism to strengthen the responsiveness of the NTF. This reflects a key recommendation of the council in its budget advice earlier this year. The national skills observatory will look forward having regard to future skills needs, labour market needs and appropriate skilling for enterprise, and societal needs that will flow from these. It is an important, progressive move. I look forward to the further development of the plans for the observatory. Beyond that, we also have a strong ecosystem of engagement at regional level.”
“There are two parts to this amendment and I will deal with each separately. The first part seeks to amend the wording in section 7(5) to provide that the consultation between the Minister and representatives of employers and employees would happen on an annual basis rather than from time to time. There is already strong and ongoing engagement between my Department and representatives of employers and employees. This happens through the National Skills Council and the high level skills implementation group across a range of skills and labour market issues. The National Skills Council's terms of reference make it clear that its role is to optimise enterprise engagement and ensure the most effective use of NTF expenditure.”
“I hope Members will agree that the sufficient safeguards already contained within the legislation, the publication of reports and the existing audit structures provided for in statute, combined with the initiative to engage the ESRI to produce a paper on the effective uses of the NTF, which paper will be made publicly available in due course, provide reassurance that there is due diligence, that the accounts are available to all and, more important, that the scrutiny of the use of the moneys is highlighted and available to all involved for their consideration. For all of these reasons, it is not proposed to accept the first amendment. I will now speak about the second amendment, amendment No. 2, which proposes to amend section 7 of the National Training Fund Act 2000.”
“We asked the ESRI to examine how NTF initiatives could be evaluated effectively, identifying the best methodological approach for each project and assessing whether our data infrastructure supports this. The report, Roadmap for an evaluation of the National Training Fund, is now under review and we will consider its progression in 2026. It contains significant recommendations that would give us a comprehensive and robust framework for the future evaluation of NTF-funded programmes.”
“The details of any new schemes developed in accordance with section 7(2B) will also be included in the accounts of the NTF, audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General and laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas in line with the requirements set out in the Act. The expenditure on all schemes, including any developed in accordance with section 7(2B), will continue to be provided in the NTF accounts. The amendment is not required because the level of auditing and transparency and the presentation of accounts are sufficiently catered for by all the measures I have already outlined. My Department has recently received an ESRI report on developing a framework for monitoring NTF expenditure.”
“This approach ensures that the use of surplus funding for capital investment is managed within the broader fiscal framework without undermining the delivery of training and skills programmes that are essential to the fund's purpose. Furthermore, my officials prepare detailed accounts for the fund annually for audit and certification by the Comptroller and Auditor General. These accounts are laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas as soon as they are certified by the Comptroller and Auditor General. They set out the expenditure for each scheme in the fund and identify current and capital expenditure.”
“The amendments to the National Training Fund Act, which allow for spending on buildings, land and equipment, will not divert funding from the core purposes of the fund, namely training and skills development, as set out in sections 7(2A) to 7(2C). The funding for the purposes set out in section 7(2B) is being provided from the NTF surplus and it is structured as a six-year package. This ensures the core objectives of the fund remain fully protected. As I have previously outlined, NTF expenditure is encompassed within my Department's expenditure ceilings. This means that, all things equal, an increase in NTF expenditure requires a corresponding decrease in my Department's Vote expenditure. Furthermore, any increase in NTF expenditure also requires an increase in the overall Government expenditure ceilings.”
“I am satisfied, therefore, that the current section 2(14) of the National Training Fund Act 2000 is sufficient and that no amendment is needed to this section. This section provides for the preparation of the NTF accounts on an annual basis, the examination and certification of those accounts by the Comptroller and Auditor General and the laying of these accounts before the Houses of the Oireachtas. The second part of the amendment seeks to include a provision whereby the accounts of the fund shall specifically identify payments made under section 7(2B) and address how the making of such payments shall impact the funding available for schemes for the purposes of the Act and the overall achievement of the purposes of the Act. I want to be very clear on the next point.”
“The Comptroller and Auditor General also seeks to obtain evidence about the regularity of financial transactions in the course of audit and reports if there is any material instance where public money has not been applied for the purposes intended or where transactions did not conform to the authorities governing them. The Comptroller and Auditor General has the power under the Act to undertake an examination of the operation of the NTF and undertook such an examination in 2023. It is a matter for the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General to determine its own work plan. The Comptroller and Auditor General's examination power and current audit of the NTF accounts comprise a sufficient check to ensure the appropriate use of the NTF in accordance with the National Training Fund Act.”
“I thank Senator Tully for her proposal and both her and Senator Boyhan for their engagement and contributions. While I understand the intention behind these amendments, I do not propose to accept them and will outline the reasons for that now. I will deal with each amendment separately. Amendment No. 1 proposes to amend section 2 of the National Training Fund Act 2000. I will speak on the original section in the Act, which is in two parts. The first part seeks to include the word "evaluate" in addition to the requirement for the Comptroller and Auditor General to examine and certify the accounts of the National Training Fund. The role of the Comptroller and Auditor General is to carry out audits to obtain a reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement due to fraud or error.”
“If Members do want to follow up with me afterwards on any particular issue, I am very happy to take them offline. I thank the Seanad for making the space available today to do this. I think I am back here next week for the next Stage.”
“The private sector plays such a major role in our economic direction and I always thank the private sector for its enterprise, which creates the resources to satisfy the public good. I am very much apprised of the work of the private sector, but just to note the public sector also makes a significant contribution. Every public sector employer in the country pays the levy also. A number of years ago, there were various, narrow sectoral funds through different levies and it was very messy and convoluted. Some time ago, it was decided the NTF was the best vehicle for a single fund and single employer levy. Of course, a number of years back, the Government increased that by 0.1% per year between 2018 and 2020 to reach the 1% it is at now. That is where that arose from. In short, I hope I have answered some of the queries that arose.”
“On that point, the question arose if it should be from the Exchequer. It is the Exchequer because the ceilings for expenditure are the same. Unfortunately, we do not get an extra top up from the NTF. The NTF, along with the voted Estimate, is the sum total of the Department's ceiling. In a way, it is all the one set of money from an accounting perspective so we cannot exceed it by going in different ways. Senator Kennelly made a number of points. In terms of the employer levy, I welcome the Senator's support and positive words about the initiative in the Bill today. Something to note is that the employer's levy includes public sector employers as well. It is not just the private sector.”
“We have set an ambition of €25,000 as the base level of stipend. Any I fund through my agencies will be at that level but we absolutely have a bit of work to do on the broader point. Senator Daly talked about TUS Athlone and Senator Ryan talked about Limerick. I will not referee there but I am a big supporter of balanced regional development. It is to be hoped there will be plenty for everybody. The Senator had a question about the Minister for Finance and what the mechanics of the fund are. It is a good question. The Minister for Finance and his agencies will manage the fund, its investments and interest - it is a very significant amount of money - but discretion rests with me in terms of the spending and allocation of it. It will work through the Houses in terms of Votes and Estimates.”
“That is something I am very engaged on and working with SOLAS on at the moment. I thank Senator Harmon and the Labour Party for their support for the Bill. We have had some very good debates on it in both Houses with the Senator and her colleagues. She mentioned the PhD stipend and the research piece. There is an issue there in the sense that the PhD stipends, which are provided by the State through Tailte Éireann and State agencies, are now at a level of €25,000. There are some privately sponsored PhD students who tend to be reasonably well remunerated. There are some from various schemes and funds which are outside the control of my Department and my remit which are not yet at that level. It is a conversation I will continue to have with the higher education institutes, HEIs, to see if we can raise that level.”
“They are funded through SOLAS, which, in turn, is funded by my Department. SOLAS has record levels of funding. It has never had more funding than it has now. This year was another record year for funding and it got over €1 billion. How it manages, allocates and prioritises that is up to SOLAS. Ultimately, it will have to make localised decisions about what they fund or do not. There was a bottleneck on apprentices earlier this year, which is still an unfortunate hangover from Covid because it has taken a while to work through the system. I directed that apprenticeship training should be prioritised. That was key for all the reasons we have been talking about in this debate. Some ETBs may have chosen to move other courses around to facilitate that. In terms of money and support from my Department, it has never had more.”